Written Answers Nos. 212-20
212. Deputy John O'Mahony asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will receive their payment for cow suckler welfare scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17930/13]
View answerThe person named registered 13 animals under the 2012 Suckler Scheme. Payment has already issued in respect of one of these animals. Payment in relation to a further 11 animals will issue shortly following resolution by the applicant of errors, which were identified. However, the 13th animal is ineligible for payment under the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme which require that the dam of the each calf should be 24 months old at the time of first calving. While a tolerance is allowed where the dam is aged between 22 and 24 months old, in this instance, 3 of the dams were aged between 22 and 24 months and application of the tolerance facilitated payment for only 2 of these animals.
213. Deputy Tom Hayes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment will issue under agri environment scheme 2 in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17948/13]
View answerThe person named was approved for participation in the 2011 Agri-Environment Options Scheme with effect from 1st September 2011 and has received full payment totalling €592.72 in respect of 2011.
Under the EU Regulations governing the Scheme, a comprehensive administrative check of all applications, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, must be completed before any payment can issue. Payments in respect of the 2012 Scheme year are subject to a similar administrative checking process which includes verification of capital investments through checks on receipts. During the course of these checks on the capital investment claim a query was identified in relation to the claimed units for the Tree Planting Standard action which will result in a penalty being incurred. Payment for 2012 will be processed shortly on this basis.
215. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the procedures and/or regulations in place to ensure proper adjudication of adequate animal welfare regulations in respect of the non-thoroughbred, non-sporting horse industry with particular reference to traceability and ownership of this sector with a view to addressing issues of husbandry and good practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17960/13]
View answerThe European Communities (Welfare of farmed animals) Regulations 2010, S.I. No. 311 of 2010 gives effect to a series of European Directives concerning the protection of animals, including horses, kept for farming purposes. Department Veterinary Inspectors are designated authorised officers under these Regulations. The provisions of the Protection of animals Act 1911, as amended by 1995 Act, applies in the case of cruelty to all animals, including non-thoroughbred, non-sport horses.
With regard to traceability, the identification and registration of equines is governed by EU Council Directives 90/426/EEC and 90/427/EEC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 504/2008. The latter regulation, which came into effect on 1 July 2009, provides that equine animals registered after that date must be identified with a passport and a microchip. This regulation applies to all equines, including equines not deemed to be bloodstock or sport horses non-thoroughbred, non-sport horses.
The EU legislation relating to the identification and traceability of equines has been transposed into national legislation via S.I. No. 357 of 2011 - European Communities (Equine) Regulations 2011 (as amended). This legislation provides that if an equine animal has not been identified within six months of the date of its birth, or by the 31st of December in the year of its birth, whichever date occurs later, then the equine animal cannot be admitted to the food chain. S.I. No 357 of 2011 was amended in September 2012 by S.I. 371 of 2012 in order to strengthen the powers of the Minister in relation to approval of an issuing body for equine passports and prosecutions in relation to equine identification and to make it an offence to forge or tamper with an equine passport. Passports are essential in the control and prevention of disease, in public health and animal welfare.
My Department introduced enhanced legislation and procedures in relation to the registration of horse premises such that, from 1 May 2012, anyone who is the owner/person in charge of any premises on which horses are kept is required to register the premises with my Department. Keepers seeking to register equines are required to have a herd number registered with my Department and to keep records of movements on/off their premises. This legislation applies to all equines.
216. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure; if she can give an indication as to when signature and ratification of the Convention will take place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17939/13]
View answerThe third Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was opened for signature by member states in February 2012.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September 1990. The UNCRC is the most widely ratified human rights treaty, enjoying almost universal ratification by nearly all Member States of the United Nations. Ireland ratified the UNCRC in 1992.
I have previously stated that it was my intention to sign the Third Optional Protocol on behalf of Ireland as soon as possible. My Department is currently finalising the State's combined 3rd and 4th Reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. When the report is finalised and submitted to the UN Committee, I will consult with other Government departments and seek the approval of the Government to the signing of the third Optional Protocol on behalf of Ireland. Ratification would generally take place some time after that, once the State is satisfied that the necessary legislative and administrative procedures are in place to enable full compliance. This matter will be assessed by my Department in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General and other Government departments.
217. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if a social worker will be appointed and kept in place in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17748/13]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy with the most up-to-date information.
218. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will confirm that family resource centres will form an integral part of the new Child and Family Support Agency when it is established; the role family resource centres will play in the new Child and Family Support Agency; if she will commit to providing adequate funding to family resource centres in order for them to carry out their obligations to the community under the new Child and Family Support Agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17749/13]
View answerThe Government has approved the Heads of the Child and Family Agency Bill and has also agreed to the priority drafting of this Bill. The necessary legislative and organisational preparations are being prioritised so that the Agency can be established as soon as possible. The Agency, upon establishment, will assume full statutory responsibility for a range of child and family services currently provided by three separate agencies; namely the HSE, the Family Support Agency and the National Educational Welfare Board.
Last week, as part of this ongoing preparatory work, the Government approved, on my recommendation, the appointment of Ms. Norah Gibbons as first Chairperson of the board of the Agency. In preparation for the formal establishment of the new Agency it is my intention to appoint Ms Gibbons as chair of the existing Family Support Agency, one of the constituent bodies to be merged into the Child and Family Agency. In line with the practice established by this Government Ms Gibbons will appear before the Oireachtas Health and Children Committee in advance of her taking up her position. I wish her every success, and I look forward to many positive and productive engagements with her.
I also intend to publicly seek expressions of interest through the “publicjobs” website for remaining members of the Family Support Agency board. The selection of these board members will reflect the enhanced role being given to this Board in overseeing, on an administrative basis, the governance and organisational preparations for the new Agency. The Agency will have a particular role in supporting families and communities. I can assure the Deputy that the new Agency will build on the excellent work undertaken by the Family Support Agency over the last decade, and that a community based approach will form an integral part of the new Child and Family Agency.
Funding of over €23.5 million has been provided to the Family Support Agency (FSA) for 2013. This includes a dedicated provision of over €14 million in respect of the Family Resource Centre Programme in 2013. Under the programme some 106 Family Resource Centres will receive funding from the FSA this year. The FSA, like all other State bodies, has been asked to make savings across all the programmes which it administers. In this context the Family Resource Centres have been asked to focus, in particular, on identifying the scope for greater efficiency and for reduction in the administration and overhead costs associated with the day-to-day running of the centres.
The new Child and Family Agency and the wider transformation of children's services represents one of the largest, and most ambitious, areas of public sector reform embarked upon by this Government. I am confident that these arrangements will provide a robust framework to fully implement the ambitious agenda for children’s service reform.
219. Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reasons a club (details supplied) in County Galway suffered a 10% cut in funding from her Department; if her attention has been drawn to the potential impacts of this funding cut on young people and youth projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17750/13]
View answerThe Youth Affairs Unit of my Department provides a range of funding schemes, programmes and supports to the youth sector. Funding of some €53.173m is available in 2013 to support the provision of youth services and programmes to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. Targeted supports for disadvantaged, marginalised and at risk young people are provided through the Special Projects for Youth Scheme, the Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund Rounds 1 and 2 and Local Drugs Task Force Projects. These funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 400,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 paid staff and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.
The Comprehensive Review of Expenditure (CRE) published in December 2011, required savings of €5.393, in the main, from staff-led Youth Scheme/Programmes in 2013. Having regard to the savings requirements identified in the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, my Department has tried to be as equitable as possible in achieving the required savings and the focus in the distribution of funding has been on the need to protect front line youth services, in particular for the most vulnerable young people. In considering how best to manage within the reduced budgets available, organisations are being asked to consider the scope for reducing administration costs and overheads in order to maintain the front line youth services. I have met with many youth organisations and groups to try and see how we can work together to minimise the impact of these necessary savings and to ensure that the provision of quality youth services to young people is sustained in these challenging times.
My Department is developing a new youth policy framework for publication later this year. The new youth policy framework will aim to enhance the provision of youth services and activities and it will, inter alia, promote co-ordination between government departments and youth sector organisations with a view to maximising the effectiveness of the State funding available to support services for young people in future years.
220. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to previous Parliamentary Questions, when does she expect that the Adoption Authority of Ireland will start processing adoptions from India or when will an agent be appointed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17892/13]
View answerOn March 14th I lead a delegation to India which included Dr G Shannon, Chair of the Adoption Authority of Ireland and a departmental official. The visit, which was in conjunction with representing the Irish Government at official functions in India for St Patrick's Day, afforded me the opportunity to assess the position in relation to inter country adoption in India.
During the visit myself and members of the delegation, accompanied by the Irish Ambassador to India, met with senior Ministers from the Indian Government with responsibility for child welfare, including adoption, and with Government officials and agencies involved in areas related to child welfare. These included a very constructive meeting with Dr Pati, head of the Indian state adoption agency, CARA. I visited the Palna Orphanage from which a number of Indian children have been adopted by Irish families.
These meetings afforded me the opportunity to clarify issues in relation to inter country adoption between Ireland and India and the requirements of the Indian authorities in that regard. I was advised that registration is now open with CARA for special needs cases; this includes children with intellectual or physical disabilities, siblings including twins, and children over 5 years of age. The issue of the Indian authorities acceptance of an Irish accredited agency was also discussed and the Indian authorities were positively disposed in this matter. It was explained that India currently operates intercountry adoption with other Hague countries without the need for any specific administrative agreements of the type envisaged in Article 72 of the Adoption Act 2010.
My Department is currently examining the role of accredited agencies under the Adoption Act 2010 including the issue of operating costs. I am anxious to ensure that such agencies are underpinned by sustainable financial structures which operate within international norms for adoption. Most importantly all fee structures should be set at an appropriate level and deliver transparency for all the parties involved.
